The quake hit Japan on the second of July at 10:11 a.m. Japan Standard Ti. The Guranaki lor had gotten it down to a five hour window, which was a boon for those needing to organize evacuations. Of course, it also tempted people to run late, cut it too fine, and so paid the ultimate price. But tens of thousands of lives were saved.
All six shuttles from the two starships participated in rescue efforts; Captain Telnik had loaned the New Hope two of his crew as pilots, when he found out that Yulliksu was the only one aboard rated to fly shuttlecraft. Petra could fly a shuttle (and had) but only could manage simple flights.
The Visitors directly saved over a hundred stranded people, and they only got attacked twice while doing so. It was so badly needed positive PR. With the Earth in such chaos, and information sources going through such flux, it was hard to get an honest read on what people actually thought about the aliens. Petra could cheat, as she had direct access to what people were typing into their individual computers, and with so careful instruction, was able to compile statistics.
Overall, people seed cautiously optimistic, but there was a significant faction that wanted to declare war on all aliens. Nick wondered whether that would cut down on the racism and sexism on Earth, uniting all humans against a common enemy. He wasn't sure that wasn't part of Telnik's strategy. At any rate, nobody was willing to land on Earth except for Telnik's teams and the humans who were returning.
It also helped that Nick had started delivery of the fusion reactor control cores—just a few here and there, and none of the big ones. The powers that be who were neither assassinated nor cowed by the threat of such were willing to behave themselves, temporarily at least, in order to get their hands on those control cores. Dozens of US state legislatures had already voted to ratify the Reform Andnts, and they were close to the required thirty-eight states on most of them. Similar reforms were being pushed through in various other countries.
Another problem to deal with was emigration. Since none of the Visitors were staying to set up embassies, there wasn't much room on board the New Hope to add outgoing humans who wanted to see the galaxy. Literally millions wanted to go, and they would cram in only twenty humans, including Nick and Maggie. The competition was even fiercer given that life-saving dical treatnt was part of the deal. You couldn't rule anyone out on account of infirmity or even age.
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Father Mangiano was staying. All the other humans who had already co aboard were returning to the quarantine station on Earth. Brian was badly torn.
"I can't believe I'm turning this down," he grumbled, still sounding painfully indecisive. "But it's the big fish in a small pond situation on steroids."
"Not much chance of being famous out in the galaxy," Nick agreed.
"I don't care about being famous. I care about having the resources and ability to make a difference. A pauper in the galaxy or a millionaire on Earth. Plus..." he trailed off.
Nick grinned. "Plus Jillian is going back."
Brian flushed. "I'm...we're not..."
"Hang in there, dude, you've got a chance. You're both science nerds. You and she have rare, shared experiences to bond over. You both got brain upgrades, you've both been in space and actually t aliens. The two of you will be part of a very exclusive club."
"Plus, your body tune-up won't hurt your chances, either," Maggie pointed out. "We're rooting for you. Just...don't be a dumbass, and you'll probably be fine. Rember, she doesn't owe you anything."
Brian furrowed his brow in surprise. "Of course not!"
Maggie nodded. "That's the right attitude. I think you'll be okay."
"I hope so," he admitted. "She's amazing. One in a billion. Thanks for the encouragent, guys. I'll study the Arrurran math hard so I can stay relevant and hopefully interesting to her."
"Just don't ignore her while you're working on impressing her."
"I won't. Thanks."
"Hey, the Apocalypse Team sticks up for each other."
Nick smiled to himself. Petra, send this past minute of our conversation to Jillian. Tell her it's from and Brian doesn't know I'm sending it.
< Okay. Should I tell Brian? >
No, and thanks for asking first. It's better if he doesn't know.
< Why? >
That's...kind of complicated. You can ask Maggie later.
< We will have a lot of 'later' on the trip back to Ooafa, but I have many, many, many questions. >
That's part of life: more questions than we have ti to answer. Which is a good thing. It would be terrible to run out of things to wonder about. Wondering about things is fun.
< It is? >
I think so. It can be frustrating if you're stuck with too many questions and not enough ways to get answers, but you mostly won't have that problem. Learning is...amazing. Take it from . I wasn't able to learn a whole lot before I t you. Now, whole new worlds have opened up for , literally.
< I have five more questions. >
Nick laughed silently. I'm sure you do. It's going to be fun helping you to find the answers.
< I'm glad it will be fun for you. >
too.
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